Sarah Napthali

Lately, I've been wondering: if Jesus arrived in Sydney via a time-travelling spaceship, and I was his tour guide, how would I explain our school system?

''Well, Jesus, you'll be pleased to know that many of our schools are what we call 'religious schools' based on the principles taught by you and your father,'' I'd say.

''Who goes to these schools?'' Jesus might ask.

''Only those who can afford the high fees - and a few who can't but are gifted in some way.''

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''And these schools are operating in my name?''

I see him furrowing his brow and wondering how his message led to privilege, exclusivity and inequality.

Our education system could be described as hypocritical. Australia is a largely secular country; one in five people declare themselves to have ''no religion'' on the census form. Surveyed parents at religious schools put religion way down the list of their priorities in choosing a school.

Alas, with my own children attending a Catholic school, I am a hypocrite too. Although I am not comfortable with a system split along religious lines, the school is near our home, the fees relatively affordable and I married a Catholic.

In Australia, we see single-sex schools as normal but most countries do not split the sexes, and years of research conclude it creates no academic advantage. My burning question is, why is Australia so hell-bent on segregating and streaming? We split for gender, economic class, religion, intelligence - often within the same school. David Gillespie's new book, Free Schools, questions this, claiming a lack of evidence that it improves academic results. We have gone from being the egalitarian country to a highly stratified society.

Marion Maddox, author of Taking God to School, explains the early colonists, despite being devoutly religious, tried to create a school system that would best serve the common good rather than just their own children. To avoid excluding too many, they agreed religious instruction should not occur in schools, forcing those who insisted on a religious education to set up their own, privately funded schools. Since then, religious schools have agitated for funding and politicians have obliged.

I believe, as a social revolutionary, Jesus would opt for a model that is inclusive and anti-elitist.

Sarah Napthali is the author of the Buddhism for Mothers series.

77 comments

Independent school are hypocritical they are more than happy to take public money.

Commenter

Joe cool

Date and time

February 28, 2014, 2:42AM

Govts fund independent schools because indep schools provide quality education at a fraction of the cost to Govt's (i.e if the State didn't subsidise the school's, the fees would go up significantly, meaning more people would use the State schools, requiring more schools, teachers and funding, which they can't afford).

Commenter

Joel

Location

Canberra

Date and time

February 28, 2014, 5:09AM

The students attending independant schools have parents who also pay taxes. Don't you think they deserve to have a fair share of the tax revenue spent on their education? This argument never succeeds Joe - cause pushing it is actually about inequality of tax expenditure, and discriminating against taxpayers that choose to spend their money on education instead of holidays or alcohol or whatever the alternative may be.

Commenter

Vince

Location

NSW

Date and time

February 28, 2014, 7:46AM

The fall in our international education standings aligns with the rise of private school enrollments, how do we explain this? Perhaps having taken the brightest they are providing an inferior outcome and lowering standards across the board.

I am sick and tired of people suggesting their children's private school is providing a better education to their children than my children's public school is providing to my children, pretentious idiots is all I can say back. What a nation of nasty little people we have become, products of private schools judging from a few of the comments.

Commenter

Bruce

Date and time

February 28, 2014, 4:38PM

Oh Vince - what a load of rubbish. Yes, parents of children at private schools pay taxes but in choosing a PRIVATE school one chooses the fees. To expect both funding and "private" tuition serves only to create classes. It also creates guilt in many parents driving them to choose (government subsidised) private schools out of fear that their child will not get a good education in the state system or worse, that their peer group at a state school will be less desirable. When many of those kids are subsidised in private colleges it concentrates the children of people with less means and sometimes worse social circumstance - a self-fulfilling prophecy. If one corrects for the socioeconomic and parental education factors, the fact is private schools are not worth the money - the same "level" kids in the state system do at least as well (often better once at uni and on a level field). The fancy fields and buildings aside, all that money is wasted.

If you want a private education for your children, you choose to leave the publically-funded system and you should bear 100% of the cost. Canada is WAY in front of us academically (one may argue socially these days too) and they are not having this debate. State schools are the best solution as we all then have a vested interest in making them great schools. As it is now, it is a fear (or snob) driven rat-race. If you like it that way, please pay your own way.

Commenter

Muckabout

Location

Port Stephens

Date and time

February 28, 2014, 6:24PM

You are correct to call them "independent schools" rather than "religious schools", but an even better description is "schools with discipline". And expecting (rather than hoping for) future citizens to behave well and respect others is exactly how to "best serve the common good".

Commenter

isteve

Date and time

February 28, 2014, 7:03PM

Sarah, why would Jesus need a time travelling space ship? He walked on water on his own without the use of any human made technology, let alone needing a tour guide. Why don't you try the Public Schools system if you want something more inclusive and anti-elitist?

Commenter

Monsieur Calgues

Date and time

February 28, 2014, 3:09AM

Actually, who is this Jesus guy, and more importantly, why would I be interested in what he had to say about schools.?.........or anything else???

Commenter

DW

Date and time

February 28, 2014, 2:52PM

How true. An exchange teacher from Canada I know was dismayed when she took her kids to the local bus stop and found that the kids there went to several different schools. "Why doesn't everyone just go to the local public school?" she asked, "like back at home." "How do people develop a sense of community when they don't go to school together? How true.

Commenter

Dinky Di

Location

Wamberal

Date and time

February 28, 2014, 4:28AM

Cathoilic parish schools (and other Christian schools) are elitist?? Are you serious? Do you have any idea how these schools work? Let me explain so that you don't embarrass yourself like this in the future. These schools operate on the principle of scraping together funds from anywhere they can in order to meet the basic running costs of the school. The parish (ie, their community) usually contributes capital (grounds, building, etc), the parents contribute modest fees and the government contributes a share. The fees parents pay are usually scaled to the number of children in the family at the school; each additional chill paying less. Typically by the fourth child there is no fee. And if the parents are so poor, they often pay nothing at all. I know. I was such a child.